Harry Potter and the Phoenix Tears
by Joe Fagan
Summary: Harry Potter is on the hunt for the Horcruxes, aided by his friends and a person he has only just met... How can she help? Why does he trust her? Post HBP, has spoilers.
1. Final Days of Torture

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will. Wish I did though.

_Final Days Of Torture_

A soft tapping noise came from the window, where a large snowy owl waited (rather impatiently) in the moonlight for the boy to awake. In the distance the miniscule figure of a flying owl could be made out in the starry sky. The floor of the room was littered with spare pieces of parchment, books a pile of old _Daily Prophet_s and a new one lying on his bed, and old pieces of clothing far too big for anyone, let alone the tall, skinny boy that lived in the room. Harry Potter had been taking detailed notes using sources from a thick, heavy book titled _The Darkeste Hours and Spelles to Use Againste Them,_ but now lay slumped, snoring gently, on the desk.The quill he had been using had rolled off the table and onto the floor, but thankfully the bottle of ink remained intact and out of reach of the boy's, or rather young man's, hunched figure.

The moments ago distant figure of an owl could now easily be made out as Pigwidgeon, and even though the owl was only two meters from the closed window, it kept flying, and hit the window with a resounding **thump.**

Harry jumped up and had his wand in his hand before either owl could come to their senses. The dark circles under his eyes gave away his sleepless nights and obvious worries about the recent event of Dumldedore's death, and as he realized what had happened he relaxed, walked to the window and opened it for the two owls. Hedwig gracefully swooped in and landed on the desk, while Pig recovered enough to take up his usual eccentric flying around the room. Pig had two letters attached to his leg, and instead of chasing the crazy owl in an attempt to get them, he opened Hedwig's cage for her and filled a little bowl with owl treats. When Pig realized Harry wasn't chasing him around the room, he gave up and landed too. As Harry untied Pig's letters and carried him to Hedwig's cage to have a drink, he gave Hedwig a thankful pat. She was the most faithful pet a person could wish for, and the only sympathetic being in the house that he could physically talk to in his torturous last few weeks living with the Dursleys.

Glancing at the letters, Harry recognized Ron's untidy scrawl and Hermione's neat cursive.

Opening up Ron's letter he read:

_Hey Harry!_

_Did you hear the news? The Chudley Cannons WON their last game, AND I WAS THERE TO SEE IT! Dad managed to get free tickets from some lady at the ministry, and they let us in to MEET THE CANNONS!!!_

_They won by miles, easily beating Bulgaria. Most of Bulgaria's good players have left though- we know most have joined leagues with You-Know-Who. Actually, Krum contacted the Order and asked to join. They are still looking through his records and checking him over, making sure he isn't a spy, but it's looking good for him. He's coming to stay with us at the Burrow in a few days while he waits for the final meeting and vote for his induction. _

_I don't know what you said to Ginny, Harry, but it sure has ruined her holidays. She spends the whole time crying and moping about (Only when she thinks we aren't looking). Even Mum is sad when Gin is around, but then again she probably knows what you said. She knows everything. _

_Listen, mate, I need to go, but we will be there to pick you up at 7 o'clock tomorrow, the 30th.That ok? Mum is all excited and rushes around organizing the wedding, driving absolutely EVERYONE crazy. Anyway, see you in two days! _

_From Ron_

Harry frowned at Ron's description of Ginny, and was obviously set to mull it over, but when he read about the wedding, he was quite startled. He had completely forgotten about Bill and Fleur's wedding. For the past few weeks he had been caught up in his own world, with regular (but rather meager) food trays being pushed into his room, and where everything revolved around making Voldemort pay for what he had done to the innocent witches, wizards and muggles whose lives he had destroyed, literally, or by ruining families and setting the world in a state of continuous grief.

His mind had not totally been devoid of thoughts of Ginny; in fact, she was one of the main things he had been thinking about.

Turning away from these thoughts, he wrote a quick 'It's fine' on a piece of parchment, and moved on to Hermione's letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_Are you ok? I know you grieving over Dumbledore's death- we all are. But starving yourself and endlessly researching how to destroy Voldemort won't bring him back. Yes, research. Yes, grieve. But slowly killing yourself through depression and blaming yourself isn't the answer. _

_I'm with the Weasleys and we are all coping ok, getting on with life, and getting excited about Bill and Fleur's wedding, Mrs Weasley in particular. I have been doing some research myself, and I am really finding some great spells in some of these old books from the back section in Diagon Alley. We haven't told anyone about not going back to Hogwarts, and it isn't certain if it will open, anyway. Ron and I kept quiet anyway. _

_I can't wait to see you Harry, and I'll be there to pick you up._

_Remember, don't starve yourself._

_Love, Hermione_

'How does Hermione know I'm studying?' He muttered to himself, and then smiled grimly. She was right about him. He couldn't get over the death of his friend and mentor, Dumbledore. 'Well, I might as well take her advice,' he said with a sigh.

He picked up his quill and wrote a quick reply to Hermione. He attached the letter to Pig's leg along with the message to Ron and sent Pig out the window. Turning his attention back to his thick book and pile of notes, Harry turned to a new chapter and began to read.

After a few moments, a tiny smile appeared on his lips, and after he let his thoughts turn for a moment, he wrote a long letter to Remus Lupin requesting some information.

At six o'clock the next night, Harry Potter walked up to his uncle, who was sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee while Petunia washed the dishes. Harry decided to make the conversation as quick as possible.

"I'm being picked up by my friends tonight. I won't be coming back," Harry said.

"Good. Glad to be rid of you." His uncle grunted back.

"I need to leave magical protection so you aren't attacked by Dark wizards," Harry stated calmly. He then watched as his uncles face went red, purple, a previously unknown shade of blue and then back to red as he thought about his choices. It was so obvious what he was thinking Harry found it hard not to laugh.

Vernon glanced at Petunia, who said with a rather pathetic look on her bony face, "Only if the neighbors can't see it!"

Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes as he left the kitchen. He was surprised it had gone down so well. He had expected at least some minor explosives to go off when he told his uncle. But then again, they didn't know Dumbledore was dead, and after the talking to he gave them last holidays, he didn't expect them to object too much. Harry sighed and began to pack all his belongings into his trunk. It wouldn't be long before he was picked up.

Twenty minutes later, Hedwig landed on the windowsill with a letter. Harry walked over, untied the letter, and thanked Hedwig for the delivery. She merely looked around, walked to her cage and sat in it expectantly. Harry closed the cage and placed it on top of his now-packed trunk.

Just as he was about to open the letter, he heard Petunia give a petrified scream, and loud thuds as he heard Dudley run through the house, away from the scream.

Harry ran down the stairs with his wand held tightly in his hand. As he entered the lounge room, he found everything perfectly normal, apart from Aunt Petunia cowering in a corner.

"What on earth were you screaming about?" He asked, annoyed.

Petunia pointed silently at the fire, which was bright green, and had the head of none other than Arthur Weasley sitting in it.

"Hello Harry. Sorry about that, I was just making sure there was a fire going before we came...I didn't was another episode like last time..."

Harry laughed. "That's ok. How are you?"

"I'm fine, but I think we should postpone this conversation until we get over there to pick you up. See you in a moment, Harry!" With that, Arthur disappeared with a faint **pop**.

Seconds later, Arthur stepped out of the fire and shook Harry's hand.

"It's great to see you, Harry! The others will be arriving in a minute." Arthur said.

Right as he said that, Tonks stepped out of the fire. She smiled and stepped forward, promptly tripping over the coffee table and falling onto an armchair.

Laughing, Harry pulled her up and said, "Hi Tonks."

Tonks, who was laughing too, said, "Thanks Harry. How are the muggles treating you?"

"About as good as ever." He replied.

With that, Lupin appeared in the fire, and said, "Hello Harry. Got your trunk yet?"

Harry shook his head and went upstairs with Tonks to get it.

"Let Hedwig fly to the Burrow. She can't come by Floo." Tonks said.

While Harry let Hedwig out, Tonks took the trunk downstairs, and Harry followed her with Hedwig's cage.

As they entered the lounge room, Lupin put the finishing touches on the protective spells. "That should do for now. Did you get my letter Harry?" He asked with a strange look in his eyes.

"Um...I was about to read it before Aunt Petunia screamed." Harry replied.

"Okay. Well, are we ready to go?"

Everyone nodded. Harry muttered "Goodbye" to Aunt Petunia, who was still in the corner, took a pinch of Floo powder from the bag Lupin held out to him, stepped into the fire and yelled "The Burrow".

**I hope you like it. It's my first fanfic, and I will (hopefully) update tomorrow. If I don't get more than 5 reviews in a week I probably won't keep going...Let me know what you think. BTW I'm hopeless at writing conversations, but I hope I will get better. I will respond to every reviewer!**


	2. The Burrow

Disclaimer: All of these characters so far belong to J.K Rowling.

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"HARRY!" As Harry stepped out of the fire, a girl squealed and threw herself at him.

"Hello Hermione," Harry said, his voice muffled by Hermione's bushy hair and the fact that she was squeezing him so tight he barely had enough air to speak. "Air, need air." He spluttered, trying to breathe.

"Right. Sorry Harry," she said, and let go quickly. Behind her, Ron was laughing at Harry, who was now breathing heavily to make up for the lack of oxygen.

"Hi Harry," Ron laughed, and he tried to recover from his laughing fit and failed miserably, which earned him a dark glare from Hermione.

"Hi Ron. Have you passed your apparition test yet?" Harry replied, and Ron sobered up quickly.

"No, I'm going for my second try in two days," he said glumly, then brightened up. "You can come too, you'll be seventeen then."

Harry grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I think I will try." He glanced around the room. Bill, Ginny and Charlie were all watching them. "Hi everyone," he said, and Bill and Charlie got up to welcome them. Ginny continued to sit, a look of hard resolution on her face.

"Hey, where are the others that went to get you?" Charlie asked.

Harry looked behind him at the fireplace. As if on cue, Tonks appeared there.

"Sorry, your Uncle arrived home right when we were about to leave and practically blew up at us. He thought we had attacked your aunt or something. Arthur is still trying to calm him down; he thought you would get worried," Tonks explained.

A minute or two later, Lupin appeared in the fire, closely followed by Arthur who was looking sheepish.

"I think I blew up the tell-vision Harry," he muttered. "Your uncle didn't want to calm down, and he tried to punch me." Glancing up, he saw almost everyone laughing.

Mrs Weasley bustled in with her head down, unaware of the new arrival until she heard splutters of laughter.

"Hello, Harry dear. Those muggles don't feed you anything, do they? Well, dinner is in ten minutes, so go upstairs and unpack. Ron, he will have to sleep in your room, even with the enlargement charms and the extra rooms we put in, it will still be a bit of a squash for the wedding." She said all of this while giving Harry her famous motherly hug.

"Hello, Mrs Weasley."

"Call me Molly, dear." As she let go of Harry she sent Bill and Charlie to set up the tables, and with a wave of her wand a pile of eggs began to crack themselves open and pour their contents into a frying pan.

"C'mon, Harry, we'll take your stuff upstairs. Hermione, Ginny, you coming?" He asked.

Hermione nodded but Ginny shook her head and stayed where she was. As they left Harry thought he heard a sigh. Hermione levitated Harry's trunk up the stairs, and they went up in silence. Only when they reached Ron's bedroom did they start to talk.

"Why is Ginny so...so...distant?" Harry asked, searching for the right word.

"Harry, you broke up with her. What do you expect her to do? And after your explanation of why you had to break up, you think she should ignore what you said? She's only trying to do what you asked of her; and she is nowhere_ near_ over you," Hermione explained.

"I know, but..."

"Harry, you can't blame her!"

"I wasn't going to!" He replied. Changing the subject, he asked, "Anyway, have you told your parents you aren't going back to Hogwarts?"

"Nope, not yet," Ron spoke at last. He had been sitting and watching Harry and Hermione talk, but grimaced when he spoke. "I'm not really looking forward to telling Mum."

Hermione, on the other hand, said, "I did. They were really worried when I told them, but I promised I'd come back in one piece. They've been invited to the wedding, actually. They won't be staying though; they'll just come on the day."

"When is the actual day?" Harry asked curiously.

"Two days after your birthday. Blimey, I should get them a present!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Trust you, Ron. Don't worry, we're going to Diagon Alley the day before the wedding. Anyway, I think we had better get to dinner."

With that, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed downstairs.

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Reveiw please? I hope you like it...Constructive criticism welcomed, outright rudeness ignored. Next chapter will be up soon. Sorry this one was so short; I didn't want to babble too much, because most of it was pointless, just like this sentence here. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Seventh Heaven, Seventeenth Hell

Disclaimer: See chapters 1 and 2

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Harry lay peacefully in bed, oblivious to the many feet trumping past the doorway. For the first time in weeks he had slept without dreams or nightmares. He smiled in his sleep, and rolled over onto his side.

**BOOM!**. The door was flung open.

Harry instantly jumped up from his bed, grabbed his wand and took a defensive stance, only to realize he couldn't see without his glasses.

A bobbing red head came through the door before Harry could do anything, and shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" before tackling him.

"Ron, I wish you wouldn't do that to people," Hermione said reproachfully as she appeared around the door. "Happy birthday, Harry. Everyone is waiting downstairs for you to get up, but Mrs Weasley didn't want to wake you."

Ron picked himself of the ground and helped Harry up, who was still quite confused as to what had happened.

"What's the time?" He asked groggily.

"Oh, around 11am. I got up ages ago. Aren't you hungry yet?" Ron asked.

"Yep. I'll be down in a minute, I just need to get changed," Harry replied.

Ron and Hermione left while Harry had a quick shower and got into some clean, but rather large, clothes. Ten minutes later he was walking down the stairs, eager to eat a proper breakfast.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was greeted by a large group of people shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Harry was rather surprised. Such a large group of people, all there to congratulate him! Ron and Hermione smiled from the front of the group, and after giving him a hug and wishing him a happy birthday, Molly sat him down and rather forcefully told him to eat a large plate of bacon and eggs.

While he ate Harry glanced at the people who had come for the party. Remus Lupin and Tonks, who were smiling and talking to Arthur; all the Weasley brothers, even Percy, who was standing all alone in a corner looking for something to do, looking rather sheepish; Hagrid, who beamed and gave him a thumbs up; Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody and half the Order, and even Professor McGonagal had shown up.

Just as he finished his plate of food, Molly whisked it away and firmly steered him into the living room, with the rest of the party following.

Again he was seated by Molly, but this time not to eat. An enormous pile of presents sat in front of him, and everyone looked amused at the expression of disbelief on Harry's face.

One by one, a person would come forward and pick up their present, and hand it to Harry. In the end, he was surrounded by presents, some of which were books on defensive and Dark magic, from the twins there was an big box of WWW products, a new set of bottle-green robes from Molly and Arthur, and much more.

One present that surprised Harry even further was Mad-Eye Moody's. It was a trunk, similar to Moody's own, with several different locks, and one small key, with each different lock opening up a new area to put possessions in. Harry thanked Moody profusely, but Moody just said, with an uncharacteristic smile, that Harry would need somewhere to put all his new belongings.

Harry decided to take his presents and pack them away so he could allow the party some more space; his presents had spread across two large couches, and many people were standing uncomfortably.

He levitated his presents up the stairs, feeling out of place using magic out of school, and into Ron's room, where he opened up his new trunk and began to pile everything in. To his surprise, as he unlocked the last lock, he was greeted by a large room, and although it was devoid of furniture, it had lush, red carpet and a sturdy wooden ladder leading to the floor.

As Harry stared into his trunk in wonder, he heard someone enter the room behind him. He jumped and turned around, to find Ginny standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes. After Harry got over his shock, he walked over and tried to comfort her, but she walked past him and lay on his bed, her sobs audible though she was face down.

"W-wh-why did you h-have to le-leave me?" She whimpered.

"Ginny, I told you why. I can't put you in such danger; you can't use magic outside of school, or apparate, your mum would never allow it, and if anything happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself for letting you go," Harry replied, with regret and sorrow audible in his voice.

"I'd r-rather be with you th-than risk never seeing y-you after this year! Y-you don't kn-know if you w-will live, a-and H-Hermione and Ron are g-going, you a-aren't stopping th-them! Please, let me go!" Her voice grew stronger as she reached the last sentence, and Harry detected a hint of the female Weasley stubbornness that her mother used so strongly.

"But, Ginn-" He was cut off by her angry face lifting from the bed and a furious voice saying-

"No, I'm going to come! You can't stop me, I can do what I want. I don't care what happens, but I am not going to sit by and watch safely at the sidelines while you get hurt and might die! Let me come or I will follow you anyway!" With that, she stormed out of the room, and a few seconds later he heard a door slam.

Harry sighed, and finished putting away his new possessions. He knew there was no point in trying to talk to her. He closed the trunk and went downstairs. As he re-entered the lounge room a few people glanced curiously at him, while others he didn't know quite so much- many of them were Order members less known to him- stared at him in outright shock or puzzlement. It was obvious what was wrong. They had heard every word.

He saw Ron and Hermione heading his way, clearly set on talking to him about Ginny. Harry didn't feel like talking about it, so he considered refusing, or avoiding them.

"Mind if I have a word with you Harry?" A quiet voice behind him asked.

Harry jumped slightly, still thinking about Ron and Hermione, and turned around. Remus smiled at him. "Maybe somewhere a bit more private?" Remus said, turned and walked up the stairs.

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**Well, what d'you think? Please review, I only have two reviews, both from the same person. (Thanks Sunny!) Anyways, next chappie'll be up soon, I promise!**

**Joe**


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